CNBC Has Received “Tens of Thousands” of Complaints About New Graphics & Noises

“Your new graphics are awful! They make me want to change the channel, or write an e-mail. It is like sandpaper to the senses, and that is sugarcoating it.”

You’re not the only one who dislikes the new graphics CNBC introduced last Monday. Many viewers do, too, like the one quoted above.

“The amount of complaints to CNBC’s various email addresses about the graphics is into the tens of thousands. Literally,” a network insider told TVNewser over the weekend. “Worse, the annoying sounds they force viewers to listen to each time a stock or index ticks higher or lower…well, it’s just unbearable. It seems clear from the e-mails that viewers are not buying it, but so far management is telling us to not acknowledge the issues or the complaints. And there appears to be no attempt to fix any of it.”

Hundreds of viewers have posted dozens of threads on message boards like this one, too. But the execs apparently call it a “self selecting sample,” and “they give no weight to it at all.” But tens of thousands of messages must mean something, right?

Some of the complaints have been about the talent changes on Squawk Box. As the insider wrote: “Kernen was fine in his role with Haines. But Haines provided the gravitas. Quick was also a great reporter as was Carl But while Kernen can handle an anchor role, the others cannot. On this new show there is no one with gravitas!

On Friday, Mark Hoffman put out a self congratulatory memo lauding all the changes. “One has to wonder if Hoffman bought or is renting,” the insider remarked…

“Today is my last day to go to CNBC. The noise you added to your stock and graphic updates is ridiculous and very annoying. Your switch to entertainment in place of real information is very apparent and a turnoff to me. I may check back in a month or two to see if they’re still there but I’m going to find dignified stock and business information somewhere else.”